2006 Hunting

Rifle Season

On November 8th, 2006 Mark harvested this great 8 pt buck. It is his best whitetail to date and scored 136 inches. Mark saw a number of other bucks that he let pass. In fact, of the 10 times he sat on this particular stand he saw bucks 8 times.

Steve also saw quite a few bucks including one real nice 8 pt (around 100 inches) that will definitely be a great buck next year.

In all I saw 10 different bucks during the firearms season including a 10 pt, three 8 pointers, and an absolute monster up at Tower (probably pushing Boone and Crocket) that I wasn't able to get a shot at. Two of the three 8 pt bucks would have scored at or near 100 inches and the 10 pt was probably pushing 115-120 inches.

In each case I let them walk for two reasons: (1) There are bigger bucks in the area and (2) We are firm believers in Quality Deer Management. If you want to have big, mature bucks you have to let those 1 1/2, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year old deer live.

Bow Season

I also did some bow hunting for whitetails this fall. On one memorable day I saw two pope and young bucks. The first one came by around 8:00 am. Unfortunately he came down the hill behind me at a trot and I wasn't able to stop him. This buck would have scored 136 inches. How do I know this? Because Mark was able to harvest him during the rifle season. The second buck came in at around 11:00 am. This buck was even better than the first one. I would estimate him to be in the 150 inch range. I should have had this buck but things just didn't work out. I had one good opportunity to draw my bow but because of how I was positioned in my stand my arm got caught in my safety strap as I was drawing. By the time I was able to rectify things the buck had moved out of the opening. I was able to draw on him several times after this but he was in the brush and I didn't want to take an iffy shot. Needless to say I was totally bummed out but maybe next year he'll be even bigger.